With the marijuana industry budding in it's first few years, many buyers have noticed the high taxes keeping prices similar to or higher than street prices. Because marijuana is still illegal federally, dispensaries are not granted many tax breaks that other businesses are, and anti-marijuana advocates are trying to keep it that way. “We don’t want special favors – we just want to be treated like businesspeople,” says one dispensary owner.

“If someone spends $100 in our store, $77 of it is going to some form of tax – that’s federal, state, sales, whatever,” said Tim Thompson, co-owner of a pot shop called Altitude in Prosser, Wash. “There’s a lot of people staying out of the recreational market because the black market is cheaper, and the reason is because of these taxes and lack of write-offs.”